ENCINITAS TO START APPLYING GROWTH-CONTROL LIMITS

New development restrictions approved by Encinitas voters in a June special election will start to take effect July 21, city officials said last week.

The changes could have ramifications for projects both large and small, city Planning and Building Director Jeff Murphy said Friday.

Whether the rules will initially cover all of the city, or just the northeastern region — well away from the coast — remains in doubt, he added.

The state Coastal Commission has review power over development proposals in about two-thirds of the city, but a roughly pie-shaped wedge of Encinitas — an area north of Encinitas Boulevard and east of El Camino Real — falls outside the state coastal review zone.

“We are communicating with the commission to get clarity” on how to handle the coastal areas, Murphy said, adding that he hoped to have resolution on that by July 21.

Proponents of the growth-control initiative told the City Council on Wednesday night that the new regulations should cover the entire city right from the start, and accused Encinitas officials of raising the coastal question as a stalling tactic.

“It looks as if you’re purposely trying to delay the will of the people from being implemented,” said Pam Slater-Price, a former Encinitas mayor and county supervisor.

Known as the “Right-to-Vote” initiative — and listed as Proposition A on the June 18 ballot — the measure requires a public vote when a developer proposes increasing a property’s allowable housing density or changing its zoning. The initiative also contains a citywide building height limit of 30 feet, and expands the public notification requirements that developers must follow.

The voter requirement already existed in the city’s codes before the passage of Proposition A, but the City Council previously had the option of exempting a project if council members determined it had a significant public benefit. The proposition eliminated that exemption.

Murphy said that developers can still increase housing density without triggering the new public vote requirement, if they adhere to the state’s density bonus law, which trumps local regulations. Under the state law, developers receive special privileges, including permission for extra housing on a lot, if they agree to set aside some homes for low-income residents.

It’s an option that developers have regularly taken in the past in Encinitas. The controversial Desert Rose Way housing project in Olivenhain — a recently approved proposal that many opponents say helped build support for the new growth-control initiative — was a state density bonus project.

Murphy said he expects the new citywide height limit will be one much-noticed change. Under the new limit, buildings can be no more than 30 feet and two stories tall, meaning that a three-story, 30-foot building couldn’t qualify, he said.

The way height is measured also will be more restrictive, he added. A developer who puts a home at the top of a hillside will need to measure the height from the hill’s natural contour rather than from the top of the fill dirt pad, he said.